NOAA ISSUES LATEST
DROUGHT UPDATEMuch Of United States To
See Warmer Than Normal Temperatures
La Niña Likely To Hang On Until August

For most of the United States, the rest
of the spring and summer will bring warmer than normal temperatures,
and some Midwestern and Great Plains states will continue to
experience drier than normal conditions, according to the latest
seasonal forecast released last week by NOAA's National
Weather Service. The forecast also predicts that La Niña,
which has dominated global weather patterns for the past two
years, will linger until August 2000.

"All of the computer weather models
agree that most of the U.S. will be warmer than usual, but at
least we can see the end coming for La Niña," said
Ants Leetmaa, director of NOAA's Climate
Prediction Center, which is part of the National Weather
Service. He added that the persistent La Niña is the meteorological
answer to the expected warmer, drier conditions.

(La
Niña is characterized by unusually cold ocean temperatures
in the equatorial Pacific, as compared to El
Niño, which is characterized by unusually warm ocean
temperatures in the equatorial Pacific.)

Last month, NOAA
released its national drought forecast, which called for drought conditions in
southern Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama,
Tennessee, Florida and Georgia in the south, and Nebraska, Iowa,
Illinois and Indiana in the north central U.S.

The forecast released last week reaffirms
most of that outlook. "Drought conditions could actually
worsen in the Midwest and Great Plains states (Nebraska, Indiana,
Iowa, Missouri, Illinois and northeast Kansas)," Leetmaa
said. "Since last month, portions of the affected southern
states experienced some relief. However for southern parts of
Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia and South Carolina, drought
conditions are expected to persist," he added.

In July and August, the forecast calls
for heavy monsoon rains -- another La Niña characteristic
-- in Arizona, New Mexico, southern Colorado and Utah. Finally,
the forecast predicts La Niña will wane by August, when
the Pacific Ocean temperatures slowly begin to climb back to
normal.